GENERAL DESCRIPTION: created in 2006 in Liege, Belgium, by a group of young people from the environment and culture sectors, CITE is a non-profit association for environmental education, awareness and training, that experiments and explains techniques and practices that respect the environment. On one hand, it was born to create a place of discoveries, experiments and reflections relating to environmental challenges while, on the other hand, promotes environmentally friendly alternatives. CITE is the acronym for Centre d’Initiatives pours une Transition Écologique (Center for Initiatives for an Ecological Transition).
KEY ACTIVITIES: starting from the four central missions: habitat, energy, food and biodiversity, CITE offers a range of activities: workshops, visits, events, training, internships and more. Based on the activities, they offer consultancy for schools, children, adults and groups. In terms of biodiversity, they have hedges containing different trees species like beech, sloe and hawthorn. In addition they have “insect hotel”, hives and wilderness area. In terms of habitat and energetic performance, when they renovated the buildings (different techniques and methods for renovation were learned), in order to achieve a good energy performance of the building, special attention has been paid to insulation and air tightness. There is a sustainable and educational garden which is managed by volunteers; different kind of fruits, vegetables and even orchards are presented in order to learn the rhythm of the seasons.
RELEVANT DIMENSION: CSA (community supported agriculture), co-working, bio-diversification, economic development, regeneration and renovation.
BUSINESS MODEL: non-profit organization, shared economy, non-governmental organization, voluntarism.
